A/N: I. Hate. School. sorry it's a bit short. *ahem* thank you's at the end ^_^
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Melodies of the Wind: Part Three: Two Thefts, An Update, and the Wind Healer
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"Are you sure you did not obtain this ring illegally?" Asuka Jr. asked the very nervous looking man whose house he was guarding.
"No! Never!" The man protested. Beside him, his very nervous looking wife was whispering in his ear.
"All right." the detective dismissed. Once Saint Tail arrived, the truth would come out. He turned around, inspecting everything. He spotted someone who did not belong, a young man, watching unobtrusively from a corner.
Asuka approached him, a frown on his serious features. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.
The young man started, looked down at the 15-year-old. "Oh! I'm a reporter; I'm doing an article on Saint Tail. Christian Nagashina." He held out his hand and Asuka shook it.
"Asuka Jr. I'm in charge here. An article about Saint Tail?" Asuka preened. "I know a lot about her, you could interview me."
The man became interested. "A lot you say? Like for instance, how she gets away with stealing?"
Asuka instantly disliked the young reporter. "Saint Tail always steals for a reason. A righteous reason." he explained patiently.
"Uh huh." he didn't seem convinced.
"Really!" Asuka insisted, defending the thief. "Don't make her out to be some common criminal-"
"Oh, I see," the taller man leaned in conspiratorially. "Are you two... lovers?"
"What?!" squawked Asuka, nearly falling over. "Of course not!"
"Too bad." the man said regretfully. "That would be a great story... 'Detective and Thief- Lovers by Day, Enemies by Night' or something..."
"Okay..." Asuka backed away slowly from Mr. Nagashina, who had a scary gleam in his eye, and tried to focus. Right, now, if he knew Saint Tail- and he did- *hot breath on his neck, sleek creature in his arms* flashed through his mind's eye. *No can't think about that!* he chastised himself.
He blinked, and suddenly there she was before him, sliding swiftly down a rope attached to a gaping ceiling skylight. "There she is!" he cried, running towards her and alerting the guards. But she already had the ring in her hands. As she nimbly climbed up the rope, she shouted,
"I'll be giving this back to its rightful owner, your daughter's fiancé!" Asuka Jr. reached the rope and started to climb up after her. "Not too high, Detective!" her voice chimed a warning, and he leapt to the ground as she cut the rope and it slithered to the floor.
"I'll capture you yet, Saint Tail!" he shouted after her as she disappeared into the night.
He turned to the couple. The wife approached him, her eyes red from crying, while behind her, the husband glared. "It's true!" she confessed. "We stole it from Rina's boyfriend!" Asuka Jr. nodded. He knew it had to have been something like this. The security arrested the couple, and Asuka left the scene, happy if not satisfied.
But Christian stayed. He spotted a young woman watching the proceedings, half hidden behind a door. He hurried over to her. "Are you the daughter?" he asked excitedly.
"Yes," she admitted. "My name's Rina. I gave the ring to my fiancé as a gift, only, my parents got angry and demanded I take it back. When I refused, they stole it from him. Thank the Lord for Saint Tail." she said reverently.
"How did Saint Tail know to help you?" he prompted.
The girl shrugged. "I prayed for help. The Lord works in mysterious ways..."
Christian turned away in disgust. This wasn't getting him anywhere.
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The next time Saint Tail made an appearance, Christian was there again. He gathered two pieces of information: Perhaps he hadn't been so far off about the detective and the thief- the way the boy looked at her... and someone had prayed for guidance. At Saint Paulia's Church.
He reported these things to Mrs. Yoshinoya now. They were in the woman's magnificent home, sitting on lavishly embroidered sofas, drinking expensive tea. To his credit, Christian only flinched once in her presence. Unfortunately, she noticed.
Setting down her empty cup of tea (made from pure crystal), she rose and paced thoughtfully. "Good work." she finally said. "Go to this church, observe it's comings and goings. Find out how Saint Tail gets her information." Christian nodded and began to stand up. She pushed him back down onto the couch. "Now where do you think you're going?" she said harshly, pulling at his shirt buttons.
He moaned, "Please, not again-"
"You don't really want me to stop, do you?"
She didn't give him a chance to answer.
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"Meimi, come look at this!" Seira called from her desk. It was morning and they were at school, before classes started.
Meimi wandered over, surprised. She had rarely heard her friend sound so excited. "What?"
Seira held up an article from a newspaper. "Listen to this!" Meimi scanned the article, trying to decipher it. Something about a new experimental device, something technical, harnessing the natural properties of wind... Meimi shook her head. "What does it mean?" she asked plaintively.
"It's a new invention!" Seira was positively beaming. "This thing is designed so that when the wind blows through it, it produces a strange healing melody. If people who are sick listen to it over a long period of time, they start to get better. It's a gradual process, and they're still working on it- but isn't it wonderful? Think of all the people this can help!" she exclaimed, her eyes shining. "They're calling it the wind healer."
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TBC
Thank yous to: Rini, Helen (thank you!), Call me Firefly (I'm glad you liked it!), and anonymous reviewer (interesting is good, I think.)
More A/N: Here we go, now the fic starts gaining speed. As to the next chapter, I honestly don't know. This chapter was basically done a week ago [except for a few minor things] but school started. bah! Review, please? ^_^
~RainShadow